Advantageously, the invention finds application in complete lines of equipment for the manufacture of tobacco products, and in particular cigarettes, comprising not only cigarette making machines but also filter tip attachment machines operating in combination with the cigarette makers.
The invention is concerned in particular with the quality control of cigarettes taken from the machines in question during the course of the production cycle, and in particular of cigarettes taken from the outfeed end of the line, that is to say, finished cigarettes complete with filter tip and print.
The task of quality-testing sample cigarettes taken from key points along the line is entrusted currently to a skilled operator who, at given regular intervals of time during the production cycle, will take a single sample and present it manually to a testing station in which certain characteristics of the cigarette are verified both by hand and with instruments, for example the quality of the outer surface and the print, the correct alignment of the tipping paper, and so forth.
Thereafter, the operator will make adjustments to the cigarette maker or the filter tip attachment machine so as to correct the operating parameters and remove the causes of any defects that may be observed in the sample cigarette.
It will be clear enough from the foregoing that this method of operation, which involves the use of skilled labour both for testing the characteristics of the cigarettes and for making adjustments to the machines, is particularly costly and unreliable, also that response times in respect of the testing procedure are somewhat lengthy.
In-line quality checks, on the other hand, and in particular those involving an optical inspection of the outer surface presented by the cigarettes, tend not to be very trustworthy by reason of the high speeds at which machines of the type in question typically operate.
The object of the present invention is to provide a system for monitoring and controlling machines used in the manufacture of tobacco products, in particular cigarettes, such as will be unaffected by the aforementioned drawbacks attributable both to testing systems relying on manual input, and to checks performed along the production line.